Study: Nonprofits pay more to men than women directors

Some experts say women need to ask for more money.
CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) -- Men who head nonprofit groups in western Pennsylvania make about 42,000 more on average than women, a gender pay gap that is growing, a new study found.
"It's not getting better," said Peggy Morrison Outon, executive director of Robert Morris University's Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management. "If anything, we may have slid back."
The study, co-sponsored by the United Way of Allegheny County, surveyed 200 nonprofits in Allegheny and 14 surrounding counties. It found that 57 percent of nonprofits had female executive directors and 74 percent of the agencies' 19,962 employees were women.
But male executive directors earned an average annual salary of 116,868, compared to the average of 74,770 paid to female executive directors, according to the study.
One factor may be that women tend to head smaller nonprofits, Outon said. The study surveyed groups that ranged in size from just a handful of employees up to multibillion-dollar giants such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"Many women work in very small organizations," Outon said. "Many of them don't want to make a lot more than, say, their program directors. They don't think it's fair."
Gap has grown
The gap between the pay of male and female executive directors actually increased since 2004, the first time the Bayer Center studied the issue. Then, male executive directors made nearly 28,000 more annually than women.
"I think the numbers don't suggest progress, but the numbers do suggest opportunity," said Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women's and Girls Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The group lobbies for equal treatment of the sexes and seeks to combat negative stereotypes.
"There is great opportunity here for women to become stronger advocates for their right to earn equal dollars," Arnet said. "There is an opportunity for nonprofit boards to take leadership on this issue."
But some experts say female executive directors may need to do just one thing to improve their lot: Ask for more money.
Diana Bucco, president of New Forbes Funds, a Pittsburgh nonprofit assistance group, says women need to do a better job of negotiating salaries, a phenomena pointed out by Carnegie Mellon University economics professor Linda Babcock's book, "Women Don't Ask."
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